Encircling hands
by Zelda12343
Summary: When mysterious hands that seem to only be after children appear, the adult Smashers must help them out if they want to save them. Samus x Ike, Zelda x Link, Mario x Peach, Popo x Nana, Roy x OC, Marth x Lyn, Kirby x Jigglypuff. Please R&R!
1. Beginnings

It was a peaceful night at first. Why would it not be?

There were no matches scheduled that night, so everyone was taking a well-deserved break. Even the assist trophies were enjoying some down time. Well, Lyn was too angry to be enjoying any down time, and Peach was talking to Primrose, but everyone else, except for one other person, was at ease.

Samus was walking in her favorite corridor, looking at the moon through the window. She had not had a very good day. Not only had she lost in her match against Ganondorf, but Pikachu's food had run out, forcing her to go to the store, her Power Suit had malfunctioned, and she'd caught Snake cheating on her with Lyn. Well, that was the worst thing that had happened that day. At least Lyn hadn't known that Snake had had a girlfriend and had kicked him in the balls when she found out. Snake had been in pain all day.

Even so, it definitely was not one of her better days. Not even Pikachu could've calmed her down at the moment, and he was the only one who could calm her down when she got this way. Dear Pikachu. He'd even offered to torture Snake to death via electricity, but Samus had told him no. She wanted to get revenge on Snake herself. And she'd loved him, too. How she'd loved him! How he'd seemed to love her! However, asking Lyn later about it, it seemed that Snake had been unfaithful to Samus for a very long time.

Ah, how calming the moon looked tonight. Samus was calmed by the moonlight; it reminded her of all of the moons and all of the planets that she'd seen in her quests. The moon was always there for her, even when no one else was. Since the two had met in the Subspace Bomb Factory, however, she'd turned to Pikachu for solace whenever she felt particular pain, as the little Pokémon was always there to comfort her. Whenever she woke up in tears from a nightmare, he'd always snuggle into her outstretched arms, wrapping his own front paws around her neck, where he'd rub his head against her chin just the slightest bit, sending electrical jolts to each tear, before telling her (she was one of the few who understood his unique language) that it was just a nightmare, and that it would all be okay. The odd thing was that he was supposedly the smaller one, the one that would usually being comforted, yet he was often Samus' only solace when she had nightmares. Even when she was dating Snake, she much preferred to seek out Pikachu for comfort. And he preferred that as well. The two had complete trust in one another, and Pikachu had almost a fanatical devotion to his beloved Samus.

But he wasn't there for her tonight. Pikachu was currently sleeping on her pillow. This worked for two purposes; Pikachu got a nice place to sleep while Samus was out, and when she returned, she had a warm pillow.

Samus had wanted some alone time tonight. It had been a hard day for her. It was fun to just look at the moon in peace, anyway. In peace, without distractions.

If there had been any distractions, Samus might not have noticed the shape that flew in front of the moon.

She looked at it in confusion. It was much too big to be a bat, the wrong shape for one of the Hands (yes, the two hands loved flying at night), and to fast to be Meta Ridley. As Samus watched it, she realized in shock that it was heading for Smash Mansion. Very quickly.

Whatever it was, she'd have to warn Master Hand.

However, no sooner had she thought this when she felt a massive finger touch her back.

She jumped with a scream and turned around to see not Master but Crazy Hand.

"Samus, don't be so scared to see me!" laughed Crazy Hand. "What am I, a monster?"  
Samus almost felt the urge to smile. Crazy Hand had originally been Master Hand's main rival. However, he'd mended his ways and was now Master Hand's dearest friend and left hand, literally. He did think differently than the others, but was quite smart. As a matter of fact, he was called "Crazy" because of his fighting style, not his personality style.

"Crazy, I just saw something," she began slowly. "It's heading towards the mansion. And I don't think it's friendly."

"Mmm?" Crazy Hand asked. "Why wouldn't it be?"  
Samus shook her head. Crazy Hand asked far more questions than Master Hand did. Sometimes, that was a good thing. However, Samus was increasingly becoming worried that this wasn't a good thing this time. The more she thought about it, the more the strange thing out in the sky made her think of something. Something that she'd tried to blot out of her mind since her parents' deaths…

All a once, it clicked for her. She remembered something about that night. And she knew what was flying towards the mansion. Well, she suspected, anyway.

"Samus! You're as white as a sheet, what's wrong?" Crazy Hand asked, alarmed.

"Crazy! We have to warn the Smashers! The thing that's coming towards us is-"

BOOM!

"Battle Stations, everyone!" echoed Master Hand's voice throughout the mansion. "An unidentified object just slammed into the main door. All children, please report to Crazy Hand."

BOOM!  
"Red alert!" Master Hand was beginning to sound panicky. "Three cracks have formed in the main door to the mansion's foyer. Whatever's hitting is very strong. Get into Battle Stations, now!"

Samus nodded, powered up her Varia Suit (also called her Power Suit) , and strutted towards the mansion foyer, where her 'Battle Station' or 'Battle Position' was. The only other person with foyer duty was Ike, former leader of the Greil Mercenaries. He and Samus had never really talked, but Samus had a great admiration for his feats. His personality, from what she'd heard of him, was far less admirable, however. She'd heard that he was arrogant, which was evident in the way he gloated every time he won. He was said to be just as greedy as Wario, but in a far more subtle way. He seemed to have a heart of ice, caring about no one at the mansion. Whenever anyone would invite him to join them, he'd just sneer. As a result, only one person in the entire mansion even tried to be his friend: Marth.

"I wonder what it is?" Samus asked, too nervous at the moment to snub Ike.

"Who knows?" he replied. "Well, it'll have to get past my sword and your gun. You support long range, while I go in for the kill."

She nodded. However horrible of a person he might've been, there was no denying that he was a brilliant strategist.

"All we have to do is wait," mumbled Samus.

"How soon do you think something will happen?"

As if to answer his question, a sudden, piercing scream rang out through the mansion.

"I recognize that scream. It's-" Ike began.

"Pit!" Samus finished in horror. The two took one look at one another before they broke into a run form the general direction that the scream had come from. Samus was pretty sure that it was coming from Pit's station, the living room. Remembering what the Chozo had taught her, she closed her eyes and let her instincts guide her as she and Ike ran through the corridors towards the living room. On the way, she almost bumped into Lyn, who was talking to Marth urgently.

"I can still wield a blade, Marth!" Lyn cried angrily.

"Lyn, I don't want you to get hurt! You're angry enough as it is. Your decision-making might be a little clouded!" Marth replied sullenly.

Samus paid no more attention to their conversation as she ran through more corridors, until finally getting to the living room. She was horrified by what she saw.

A massive skeletal hand had entered. It was easily as large as Master Hand, but where Master Hand had the decency to wear a glove, every white bone and every sharp, talon-like nail was visible. It also had an unusually long arm; almost twice as long as the hand itself.

But that wasn't what was concerning Samus. What was concerning her was that it was holding Pit in a vice-like grip.

And he wasn't moving.


	2. Pit and Primrose double attack

"About our little plan earlier?" Ike asked, drawing Ragnell.

"Mm?" Samus replied, readying her laser whip.  
"We're going to have to modify it."  
"Why?"  
"That thing's levitated six feet off the ground. If it drops Pit…"

What would happen would go unsaid. In the event that Pit was alive (though he still wasn't moving and looked rather pale), a six-food drop would severely injure him. In normal situations, neither of them would be willing to let that happen to the angel, but this wasn't a normal situation. Even as they were speaking, the hand began to float out of the room. They couldn't risk losing it.

Samus shot her laser whip at it, while Ike tossed his blade upwards at the hand, carefully avoiding Pit. If he were alive, as there was a small chance that he was, they didn't want to hurt him. However, when the creature purposely swerved so that both of their attacks hit him, Samus and Ike realized that the thing was a smart as it was cruel. Only then would it make them hurt someone that they had agreed wouldn't suffer.

Suddenly, however, the hand shook as if it had been hit by fire. Din's fire, to be exact. Samus turned to see Link, Zelda, and Pikachu all standing in the doorway. Pikachu immediately leapt onto her shoulder and allowed energy to shoot out of his cheeks. This, Samus knew, was a threatening tactic. She'd seen him do it before, particularly to try to scare opponents off before conflict had to ensue. Zelda charged up another Din's fire and gazed threateningly at the hand.

"Guys, I heard screaming, so the we're here to help you!" Link grinned and pulled out his bow. He was the best archer in the entire Smash Mansion except for Pit. Thankfully, he didn't disappoint now. His arrow smacked the hand before it could react. The hand trembled again. Samus then leapt into the air, executing a usually devastating upward slam attack. The hand trembled once more and rose as high as it could get, probably attempting to avoid her. Link shot his boomerang at it, and Pikachu shrieked "PIKA!", summoning a thunder cloud. The hand seemed to have enough and dropped Pit.

All of the others watched in horror as Pit plummeted to the ground. He was going to hit the ground very hard, all of them could see. Most likely, if he wasn't dead yet, he would be upon hitting the ground. However, Zelda reacted quickly and used Farore's Wind to warp to right beneath him. Thankfully, she easily caught him. Zelda had very good aim with things like these.

"Pit? Pit!" she shouted, shaking the angel gently. The shaking became more frantic, however, when Pit didn't respond.

"Zelda, just take his pulse and be done," Ike mumbled impatiently and threw his sword into the air. Zelda looked at him indignantly for a moment before following his advice and softly put two fingers on his wrist. When she felt a weak beat beneath her finger, she gave a sigh of relief and gently lay him onto the ground, a little out of the way so that none of them would hit him by accident. Then, drawing in breath, she summoned Din's fire and threw it at the hand with all her might to create a combo with Link's arrow.

Contact! The hand shivered once more, but attempted to leave. However, the Smashers weren't going to let this menace go. It had hurt Pit, possibly severely, and no matter what happened to them, they weren't going to let the monster get away. See, Link and Zelda were Pit's best friends, and if anyone even said an unkind word to the innocent angel outside of the brawls, the two were on them in a heartbeat.

However, all of the Smashers stopped dead when a second scream was heard. The hand took the opportunity to fly out as quickly as it could. It had failed at it's task. Besides, it wasn't at full strength yet.

"Who was that?" Zelda asked in horror as the five Smashers sprinted down the hall. Upon hearing the scream, all five had broken into a sprint, Zelda only stopping to snatch up Pit, who she was now holding gently. If any hands were to return for him, they'd have to get through her first.

"It came from the next floor up," Link replied.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu asked.

"Yeah, Pikachu, you're right. It did sound like it was coming from Mario and Peach's wing," Samus replied. With that, all of the Smashers with her realized who had been targeted.

"Primrose…" Link gasped in horror. Primrose was possibly the easiest Smasher that it could've picked for an attack upon. She was only fifteen, like Roy. However, unlike Roy, she was virtually defenseless. Though she was the daughter of Mario, who was one of the most popular Smashers (for good reason) and Peach, who was a very versatile female character, she had yet to show any powers of her own. In the rare occurrence that she was in a match, melee, or even a brawl, she relied on her fast reflexes (which came to her from training, not a real power) to get to items quicker than anyone else. Even so, the amount of matches, melees, and brawls that she'd won could be counted on one hand.

However, somehow, she'd avoided the massive hand that was now hovering over her bed. As the others burst into her room, they immediately saw that Nana, Toon Link, Roy, and Kirby were already protecting her. Even so, the others (with the exception of Zelda, who was still cradling the comatose Pit as if her life depended on it) joined in and the hand was soon sent packing. It was probably the fact that it was now rather bruised from Nana's hammer that kept it from attacking harder.

"Primrose? You can come out now," Roy gently beckoned to the girl. A few seconds later, the girl emerged from under the bed, her dark hair a mess, her tiara askew, her purple pajamas dirty, and her large blue eyes even larger with fright.

"Is it gone?" she asked quietly.  
"Yes, it's gone," Ike said sullenly. "Before I could fight it, either."

Samus whirled to face him, fury etched on her face.

"Pit could be dying and Primrose could've been killed, and you're worried about the fact that you didn't fight it?" she said angrily. "It's about glory, right? For shame, Ike!" With that, she slapped him. "I don't care if you are a great hero back in Crimea, you're a pig!"

Silence met her. The others looked at her, stunned. Samus rarely had outbursts like these. Only when she was really mad did she act like this. Most of the Smashers had seen her really mad once or twice in their lives. And she'd not been this angry since Pikachu had come (except when she'd broken up with Snake earlier that day).

However, the silence was broken by a low moan. Everyone turned to face Zelda and Pit, who was stirring just slightly. Zelda gave a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Pit was still alive. It would break her heart if he weren't. Even though Zelda was naturally a kind spirit herself, she swore that Pit was the one keeping her from becoming a princess of ice rather than a princess of love, even more than Link did. Whenever she lost a brawl and would storm into their wing angrily, yelling at Link to leave her alone, whenever she'd storm into her room with the intention to break something, whenever she'd then collapse onto her bed and punch it as if it had just turned into Ganondorf, she'd feel a small, thin hand, that of a young child, on her shoulder. Always, she'd shout at the child to just leave her to her misery, but when she'd turn up to look she'd see a small face looking down at her with pure pity and sorrow. Sometimes, just seeing her cry, tears would drop out of his blue eyes. Then he'd throw his arms around her and sob in earnest, begging her to stop being sad. After all, if she was sad, he was sad, too. There they'd sit, the two Smashers, one a princess on the verge of adulthood, the other a twelve-year-old angel who was thought of as innocence and purity incarnate. Then, when Zelda was feeling a bit better, the two would stand up together, Pit offering one more word of comfort, and walk hand in hand to the dining room. As a result, everyone thought Zelda and Pit were 'an item'.

"Zelda, you're such a pedophile!" Wolf would jeer.

"No I'm not; we're best friends, didn't I tell you that last time we came in here like this?" Zelda asked exasperatedly.

"What's a pedophile?" Pit would cut in.

"Something someone like you wouldn't want to know about," Zelda would reply gently. Of course, Pit would believe her and would quiet down. He believed everyone, but was by no means gullible; just trusting. He tended to remember good deeds easily (he even remembered that Marth had given him a peppermint before his first match ever) and forget bad ones within days of their occurrence (as a matter of fact, he'd already forgotten that Wario had cheated in their match a day ago), always seeing the good in others (and yes, others included Ganondorf, Bowser, and even Tabuu) and forgetting the bad. Zelda still remembered the day after they'd beaten Subspace Emissary. One of Pit's wings had been crushed, the other broken in the fight against Tabuu, yet it was he and he alone who had given him a proper memorial service. He'd been looked at as foolish from that day forward, but Zelda knew that he just had no evil in him. He could no more even say a harsh word to another than betray his beloved goddess, Palutena.

And now, some monster had attacked the kindest, gentlest, most innocent of all the Smashers. Zelda almost saw red. How could it?

"Zelda?" Pit asked weakly, lifting his head up to look at the princess. "Why are you so angry?"

Zelda wanted to swear. Pit could sense the emotions of others. Of course he knew that she was furious, and wouldn't be happy.

"It's fine. Pit, 'are you okay' is the bigger question here," Zelda replied. The angel gasped weakly when he tried to sit up to face her.

"Not so good, I guess. Could you take me to Dr. Mario?" Pit asked. "What's wrong with me? Why am I feeling so-oh!" Suddenly, he seemed to collapse further, and began to shake as though a cold wind had suddenly come through.

"Zelda," he gasped, reaching out blindly for her hand, "I remember how my parents died now. How I died. Why?'

Zelda could now see that the damage was much more sever than she realized. The hand had somehow unblocked the memory of his family's slaughter, causing him obvious shock and confusion. She burst into tears herself, imaging how the poor angel was feeling.

Link stooped to put a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to him gratefully as he said, "Hush, Pit. Just try to go to sleep while you can. The hands might come back, and in the mean time, let's get you to Dr. Mario."

Zelda smiled at Link despite her tears, and Pit just nodded in relief. Zelda then rose to go, but not before handing the small angel to Link. Link felt calmed by the angel's presence for a moment, before realizing something.

"Zelda. What about the other kids. What if the hands come back for them?"


End file.
